Big Daddy

Post-industrial pioneers of Bourbonese Qualk, 23 Skidoo, Current 93 and Laibach go deep in the echo chamber with masterful results for anyone smitten with The Orb, Ozric Tentacles, or Om Unit’s acid dub studies, and hankering for the halcyon haze of ‘90s chill out rooms. Enjoy!

Featuring the digits of revered veterans Simon Crab and Fritz Catlin on the synths, guitars, drums and mixing desk, Big Daddy’s ‘Bomb Culture’ is a wickedly loosey goosey batch of acid dub betraying strong influence from psychedelic rock and reeking of ganja and patchouli. It feels very much a vestige of bygone eras that have endured in certain, addled imaginations and after-hours sessions since the ‘80s new age travellers free-party/festival network transitioned to squat parties and the likes of Herbal Tea Party or Megadog in the ‘90s.

The 8 tracks dial up aspects of both artists combined 80-odd years of work in this arena, with Crab leaning into the latent dub-wise nature of his Bourbonese Qualk works that have more firmly surfaced since his return to the fray in recent years, and Catlin channelling, and tempering, the percussive suss of his classic chops with 23 Skidoo, whose ground-breaking, gamelan-infused post-punk was massive highlight of that era.

Trust it’s one for the eyes-down crew, holding a dense but spacious pressure between their heavy-trodding ‘Umwelt’ and melodica-led charms of ‘Molecule’s Dream’ with psychonauts and spangled bodies in mind. They edge on a sort of Afrobeat dub gilded with lush pads on ‘Cupid’s Itch’, and properly lift up knees on the buoyant stepper ‘Chasmophyte’, next to crashing dub of ‘Warlords’ and the defter ‘Esolang’.